Documents will often reflect the historical context of the times that they were from, and by understanding the context we can better understand the document. Michael Kwass’s “The Global Underground” provides context that helps to shed light on the 1789 “Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen,” by showing examples of why its articles mattered to peoples of France, and why they would choose them to include in their declaration.
The “Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen” was a bill of rights passed by France’s National Assembly in 1789. This was towards the beginning of the French Revolution. The Declaration contains seventeen different articles establishing the natural rights of the individual from the government. This reflected the general …show more content…
They then leased this to a private company called the General Farm along with the right to collect indirect taxes, in return for large loans. (Kwass 17) Related to this, French textile companies lobbied the capital to do something about the popular imported Indian calcio cloth that they were unable to compete with. In response, the government banned all calcio imports in 1686. The General Farm policed both the tobacco ban and the calcio ban. (Kwass 18)
However, none of these bans successfully managed to keep the merchandise out of France. Vibrant black markets arose to import the cloth and tobacco and get them directly to the consumer. This underground market was very organized and led to the formation of gangs. To suppress these gangs, the monarchy expanded the General Farm’s police force to twenty thousand guards, the largest non-military force in Europe. The Farm also managed all criminal courts concerning smugglers, and carried out tens of thousands of sentences. (Kwass …show more content…
Article V specifies that the law can only forbid “actions which are injurious to society”, as many had argued that, since smuggling was a victimless crime, it caused no harm to society and shouldn’t deserve the same punishments as those given to actual criminals. The political writers of the time had questioned how it could be that “the death penalty was pronounced against citizens out of a financial interest”. (Kwass 28)
Article XII, which said that all public forces must be “for the advantage of all and not for the particular benefit of those to whom it is entrusted,” protested the large police force that the General Farm had enacted purely for financial gain. The indirect taxes were protested with Article XIII, saying that all taxes must be “assessed equally on all citizens in proportion to their means,” and Article XIV, which said that the citizens must have a say in determining any public tax.
Without seeing a historian’s article, it would be hard to understand why these particular points make up the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen, and why the declaration places such an emphasis on things like taxes, crime, and punishment. One would wonder why a revolution centered around liberty, fraternity, and equality would be so concerned with financial
The “Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen” was a bill of rights passed by France’s National Assembly in 1789. This was towards the beginning of the French Revolution. The Declaration contains seventeen different articles establishing the natural rights of the individual from the government. This reflected the general …show more content…
They then leased this to a private company called the General Farm along with the right to collect indirect taxes, in return for large loans. (Kwass 17) Related to this, French textile companies lobbied the capital to do something about the popular imported Indian calcio cloth that they were unable to compete with. In response, the government banned all calcio imports in 1686. The General Farm policed both the tobacco ban and the calcio ban. (Kwass 18)
However, none of these bans successfully managed to keep the merchandise out of France. Vibrant black markets arose to import the cloth and tobacco and get them directly to the consumer. This underground market was very organized and led to the formation of gangs. To suppress these gangs, the monarchy expanded the General Farm’s police force to twenty thousand guards, the largest non-military force in Europe. The Farm also managed all criminal courts concerning smugglers, and carried out tens of thousands of sentences. (Kwass …show more content…
Article V specifies that the law can only forbid “actions which are injurious to society”, as many had argued that, since smuggling was a victimless crime, it caused no harm to society and shouldn’t deserve the same punishments as those given to actual criminals. The political writers of the time had questioned how it could be that “the death penalty was pronounced against citizens out of a financial interest”. (Kwass 28)
Article XII, which said that all public forces must be “for the advantage of all and not for the particular benefit of those to whom it is entrusted,” protested the large police force that the General Farm had enacted purely for financial gain. The indirect taxes were protested with Article XIII, saying that all taxes must be “assessed equally on all citizens in proportion to their means,” and Article XIV, which said that the citizens must have a say in determining any public tax.
Without seeing a historian’s article, it would be hard to understand why these particular points make up the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen, and why the declaration places such an emphasis on things like taxes, crime, and punishment. One would wonder why a revolution centered around liberty, fraternity, and equality would be so concerned with financial